Crytek to release free standalone game engine

Crytek, the folks behind Crysis and Far Cry, reportedly plans to join Unity and Epic Games in releasing a free video game engine. Crytek already provides a free CryEngine 2 editor to modders, but the outfit hopes to launch a free standalone platform that is up to speed with the latest engine and that people can run independent of CryEngine.

"We have a very vivid community of users and modders and content creators, and usually that's a great way of unlocking the engine," said Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli. He added that it's not exactly the same as what Epic or Unity are currently doing. Few other details are available, such as a launch timeframe or licensing options.

CryEngine 3 will debut with Crysis 2, which is claimed to have the best graphics ever and is coming later this year for the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.